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More than a year after it handed down crushing sanctions against Penn State and its football program, the NCAA has done an about-face.

The NCAA announced Tuesday that it will begin rolling back the most stringent of the restrictions it imposed on July 23, 2012, as punishment for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and an alleged cover-up that was revealed in the controversial Freeh report, restoring five football scholarships per year staring in 2014.

The NCAA chose to loosen the scholarship sanctions after reviewing a report this month by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who has served for the past year as the independent athletics integrity monitor for Penn State. Mitchell recommended - to the NCAA and Big Ten - that sanctions be reduced because Penn State has "substantially completed" more than 120 tasks outlined in the Athletics Integrity Agreement the university and NCAA agreed to as part of the initial sanctions.

"My recommendation was not made on any feeling the sanctions imposed were inappropriate or unduly harsh," Mr. Mitchell said. "Penn State has made a serious, good-faith effort to embrace and adopt the changes to enhance its future.

"Penn State has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to fulfilling the requirements of the Athletics Integrity Agreement. ... This was a positive response to positive action."

Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien and his staff will be able to recruit 20 players in the recruiting class of 2014 - five more than originally allowed. By 2015, the Nittany Lions can hand out the full 25 scholarship maximum to incoming freshmen. In 2016, they will have the full gamut of 25 scholarships for recruits and 85 overall for the team to distribute.

The gradual restoration of scholarships will put Penn State on equal footing, roster-wise with nonsanctioned FBS schools a full two years earlier than originally anticipated.

Other specific tenets of the sanctions - namely, the $60 million fine, forfeiture of wins and postseason bowl ban that runs through the 2015 season - will remain intact, at least for now. But NCAA officials are indicating that with further positive progress at Penn State, some of those could potentially be relaxed, also.

"If you'll recall, the Athletics Integrity Agreement included a reconsideration (of the sanctions) after two years," said Michigan State President LouAnna Simon, the chair of the NCAA executive committee. "Given Sen. Mitchell's reports and the extent of progress at Penn State, the decision was made to act prior to that. I think it's inappropriate to speculate beyond that."

Mr. Mitchell said Penn State has hired its first athletics integrity officer and appointed appropriate oversight of intercollegiate athletics among top university leadership, among its many positive steps forward.

He noted that other universities have begun to model their oversight systems after the changes Penn State has made, further calling the university's efforts "groundbreaking work." Further reduction of sanctions could come in the future, Mr. Mitchell recommended, as a means of motivating future leadership after the tenure of current university president Rodney Erickson ends. Mr. Erickson as indicated he will step down when his term ends in June.

That means, the NCAA will at some point consider lifting the bowl ban, which as it stands, will keep Penn State out of postseason play until the 2016 season. However, officials would not commit to a time when they would consider relaxing that sanction, not even dismissing a question about whether it could happen as soon as this season.

Some Penn State fans and alumni have harshly criticized the NCAA for taking the Freeh report at face value, despite inconsistencies in the findings and what has been labeled by critics as incomplete sourcing.

"I don't think so at all," NCAA President Mark Emmert said. "The decision by the executive committee and the people on board to accept recommendations of Sen. Mitchell are solely a recognition of the very good work that has been done by Penn State's University leadership and their desire to drive change at the institution.

"The goal has always been to ensure the university enforces clear expectations and a

daily mindset within athletics that the highest priority must be placed on educating, nurturing and protecting young people."

The reaction from Penn State officials was predictably positive.

Mr. O'Brien called the news "tremendous," adding that adding scholarships gives the university a chance to graduate more athletes "with a world-class education." But he cautioned that the program's battle isn't over yet. The university will have to continue to follow the path set forth in the Athletics Integrity Agreement if it wants to return to complete competitiveness against other schools in the Big Ten and nationally.

"We've got a long way to go here at Penn State," Mr. O'Brien said. "We're happy for our players and the student athletes in our football program now.

"We're happy for the people here who have worked extremely hard to implement the recommendations of the Freeh report. We're working one day at a time, working as hard as we can, to try to do the right things. That's what were doing at Penn State."

The university further added that its near-full compliance with the consent decree with the NCAA has made Penn State a better, safer place.

"The action taken today by the NCAA, following its review of the positive report issued this month by Sen. George Mitchell, recognizes the significant efforts over the past year to make Penn State a safer, stronger institution," Mr. Erickson said.

"This news is certainly welcome to our university community, particularly the student athletes who may want to attend Penn State and will now have the means to do so. As we promised throughout this process, we are committed to continuing to improve all of our policies, procedures and actions."

Sandusky was convicted last year of sexually abusing 10 boys and is currently serving a 30- to 60-year sentence.

Contact the writer: dcollins@timesshamrock.com @psubst on Twitter

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